I have not really made beauty the regular focus of blog posts, especially as I started out as a food blogger way back in 2010.

However this current blog was intentionally set up as a space for me to experiment with writing and producing different styles of content.

I want this to be a space where I can share my thoughts and snippets from my life, resulting in my covering of topics ranging from the mundane from the profound. So I'm going to give beauty a go!

Beauty is quite a contentious subject in my mind. I have fundamental concerns with the agenda of "beauty" as a discourse in our society, especially as this relates to the control of women through aesthetic standards.

I am also committed to only supporting cruelty free brands, something which you can find more on in this post.

I therefore thought I would dip my toe in the water and showcase some of my recent cruelty free beauty buys.

B. Revealed Glycolic Cleanser 125ml | Superdrug | £7.99

I bought this due to a strong recommendation by a close friend who is also a conscious consumer of only cruelty free cosmetics. As a former user of manual exfoliants, I am constantly told to move over to acid based routines.

I have never really tried the B. range by Superdrug before, but it does seem to generally produce favorable reviews. As many of the products are currently on offer (this is in August 2016), I thought I would give it whirl.

Products such as this are especially useful for people who are looking to avoid micro beads, as chemical based exfoliants are much less likely to contain them, though do check individual packaging to make sure.

Overall I have been pleasantly surprised by this cleanser. There are two ways of using it; you can either use every few days and leave it on for 3 minutes, or use it daily as a simple wash of cleanser.

I generally have been doing the former rather than the latter and as a result, my skin is much softer. The only possible negative is that I seem to have broken out slightly more since buying, but I suspect this acne may be hormonal rather than product driven.

NYX High Definition Eyeshadow Base 8ml | Boots/FeelUnique | £5.50

I have quite oily lids which are also hooded. Subsequently, I suffer quite a lot from makeup slide during the day, especially when I am wearing any form of liquid liner.

Whilst I was on the lookout for a solution, I came across this nifty thing in boots and decided to take a punt.

NYX are seriously spot on at the moment with their price point and product range. Also despite being bought by L'Oreal, they continue to be committed to a cruelty free policy.

This base is seriously good value and definitely does the job. My eyeliner now stays put for 8 hours, without the need for a covert in-office top up!

This has to be THE most bought blogger beauty product of the moment, now I see why!

The formula is matte, without the drying effect that certain similar matte products can have. I went for shade 06, Istanbul, which is a very natural rose colour. The kind of colour which is "my lips, but better".

I would say that the application sensation is "buttery", for want of a better term. It's very easy to apply on the run and also smells incredible.

The only downside I have found is that the staying power isn't amazing. I usually find that I get a lot of fading after a couple of hours. Hwoever, it's not exactly hard to reapply...